A great job can be hard to find, but once you see your dream job listed, you need to be prepared to jump on it. That means instead of just printing a copy of your résumé – you know the one you’ve updated maybe 2 or three times in your life – take a hard look at what it says about you.

Your resume is the tool that lands you an interview, and it should be treated as such. This document should speak volumes about why you are the perfect person for the job. We learn this in high school and college, but many people forget the importance of that two or three sheets of paper, or just plain don’t understand how to sell themselves.

The following information is guaranteed to help anyone get a foot in the door for that job interview. It will focus on how a person should market themselves for that job that hundreds, even thousands are vying for.

What Your Résumé Should Say About You

Think of your résumé as your very own informational brochure. It is a marketing tool that should paint a picture of your job performance. It should be broken down into four basic sections:

Qualifications

Job Experience

Education

References

And depending on your situation, a few others may be added if they apply to your experience:

Honors/Awards

Civic Organization/Association

Membership Certifications

Let’s take a look at just what information fits under each résumé heading:

Qualifications.

After your Résumé heading (which we will discuss later), the first thing a prospective employer wants to see is if you are qualified for the job. This is an overall big picture of what your work experience and education will later support. And if not written well, your Résumé may be tossed without being read all the way through.

The biggest mistake many make at this point in the résumé is being too detail-oriented. You cannot list your qualifications as a number of tasks you know how to do; rather, this should be a mix of overall skills written in a big picture format while including specific information.

Example:

Don’t say: Knowledge of systems administration duties.

Say: Competent in the area of systems administration duties, specifically in x software, y software and z software.

As you can see, example two give the big picture – this person is competent in system administration duties – but also lists the software he/she is competent in. This is great especially if you know that software is exactly what the prospective job function uses.

Some other general, big picture qualifications examples include:

Excellent marketing and public relations skills

Exceptional time management skills

Excellent conflict resolution skills

Able to adapt to new situations quickly

Sensitive to the uniqueness of situations

While writing your qualifications, use bullets instead of a long paragraph. This format looks better and is easier to read.

Another tip on writing qualifications – remember that every qualification written down must be supported by your experience outlined in the résumé. Think of it as writing a synopsis of a story – your story of what a great, experienced professional you are.

Job Experience

Once you have finished writing your qualifications, it’s time to illustrate them in the job experience portion of your résumé. Believe it or not, people tend to make big mistakes in this area.

When many think of their job experience, they see the specific tasks they do every day. While this is part of your job experience, why not apply it to the big picture of your company? For example:

Instead of: write press releases, conduct media interviews and attend health fairs.

Say: Increase the overall public awareness of X Corporation by writing press releases, conducting interviews and attending public events.

Example one just states what you do at your job function. Example two, on the other hand, shows that you are aware of how you help the company when talking about the big picture. An employer usually leans toward hiring those who can see how their job affects the bottom line – and this is your time to shine.

Let’s say you are a public relations professional. Your work experience piece would be written similar to this (depending on your experience):

• Increased overall public awareness of X Corporation by X percent by media interviews, advertisements and events open to the public.

• Successfully marketed X services by creating and sending out deliverables to the target audience.

• Researched, created, implemented and evaluated X number of communications plans; X number resulting in success. Saved X Corporation $XXX dollars by writing and implementing customer service training which was previously contracted out.

When writing job experience, again, use bullets. This format is much easier to scan during the interview search.

Education

Along with job experience, education is very important in getting your foot in the door. Employers tend to look at your education level and success not only because they want high achievers, but those who successfully completed education are obviously trainable.

When writing this section, you want to list your degrees, where you received them and grade point average. Don’t begin your list at elementary school – high school and above are the only listings needed. It should look something like this:

• High School Diploma; XYZ High School, Anytown, USA. GPA: 4.0.

• Bachelor of Arts – Basket Weaving; XYZ University, Anytown, USA. GPA: 3.5

Don’t make this portion too busy – if you have any awards, honors or certifications, they can be listed separately.

References

Just as your work experience and education, references can either boost you or make an employer indifferent. This is a portion of your résumé; yet, your references should be listed on a separate page just in case you don’t want to attach them with the resume you send in. You can always include a References Available Upon Request at the end of your resume if you want to. Just be careful leaving them off because you never know who the employer knows, and if they see a familiar face in your reference, it could boost your chances even more.

When picking references, try and aim for six people to list. This is a good rule of thumb because employers usually only contact three or four, which usually pans out if one or two of your contacts can not be reached for some reason. But, be sure to ask those people you have in mind if it is okay that you put them as a reference, and how do they like to be contacted. This way they know in advance about the potential call they may receive and have some time to think about what to say.

One other important tip – try and have a three to three ratio – three managers to three peers. If you work with management and they like the job you do, their word is gold to another manager. Remember, you are laying the groundwork for landing a new job, and your potential employer wants to know what management and your peers think, so that should be reflected when they talk to your references.

When listing a reference, always give their name, their title, work address, work phone and e-mail. This is plenty information for the prospective employer, and it gives them a few options on how to contact each reference.

Optional Topics for A Successful Resume

With the core résumé topics out of the way, you now need to decide if any custom topics need to be included, like honors/awards, certifications, community service or organization/association membership.

• Honors/Awards. Under this category, you would list any honors or awards received when in school or on the job. Rather than write a paragraph on the information, just write: XYZ Award received by X Corporation; January 2005. This gives you the opportunity to tell the story about receiving the award when you are face to face during the interview.

• Certifications. This category allows you to showcase any certifications you received while completing a program or other training. Again, list it short and sweet: April 2005 – CPR Certification; XYZ Corporation.

• Community Service. This is a great listing for those who are very active in their communities by volunteering. No long paragraph here, either: XYZ Chapter Habitat for Humanity Volunteer; 1990-2005. Believe it or not, employers like to see altruism because they often volunteer time and money for community initiatives.

• Organization/Association Membership. Like the above categories, you would list your organization affiliations very simply: American Diabetes Association Board Member – 1998-1999. List the affiliation, your title (member, board member, vice president, etc) and the length of time you were associated with the group.

Putting it all Together: Résumé Design

Now that the content is nailed down, how do you show it off? Now it’s time to update your tired résumé’s look into something fresh and eye-catching.

Before you even consider the category layout, you need to have a header. Your header includes your name and contact information. You can center this information at the top of your résumé’s page, or get a little creative – why not make your name larger than the other information and stretch it across the top or from top to bottom? You can make it a little more edgy by adding a nice, sleek line that divides your name and information, and then use fancy bullets between your address, phone number and e-mail.

This type of layout can really add some oomph to what could be a boring résumé. Be sure to use your header on each page of the tired résumé, including the reference page – that way the prospective boss can’t get your tired résumé confused with anyone else's.

As discussed before, the next portion of your tired résumé – Qualifications – should be a bulleted list, clean and crisp. You can center it on your page, but it does look much better on the side of your page.

Qualifications

• Excellent marketing and public relations skills
• Exceptional time management skills
• Excellent conflict resolution skills
• Able to adapt to new situations quickly
• Sensitive to the uniqueness of situations

All other categories should follow suit with your design, as well as all of your grammar, capitalization and words should be correct. For example, if you start off capitalizing each word listed in a bullet, make sure you do so for each bullet listing. Your spelling should be checked by another just in case spell check missed something (as it does often). Bottom line – this document is your chance at a new opportunity – make sure it is perfect!!!

After you are finished with writing the content, designing the layout and putting it all together, just a few more things before you can call it quits. First, find some great paper to print your résumé on. Normal white or off-white résumé paper is perfect. Be sure to stay away from colored or pre-designed paper – you want your information to stand out, not your favorite color.

And finally, figure out how you want to present your résumé. If you plan on sending or dropping off your résumé in, fit it in a nice binder – a binder is a great way to package your resume in a book format, and you can easily include any sample work as appendices.

If you don’t have any sample work to include, or just aren’t that flashy, a nice report cover is perfect for your résumé.

A perfect résumé isn’t hard to do – and now you are ready to go at it. Expect to spend a few hours on such a task, but don’t get frustrated. Just remember, your résumé is, in fact, the single most important document to help get you that great job, so be good to yourself and do it right. A little patience can go a long way – maybe even all the way to the top!